More than 50 congressional staffers arrived by bus to the training center where they were given a traditional company commander welcome and spent the day learning about various missions and assets used by the Coast Guard to conduct its front-line missions.

“Hosting Mission Day at Training Center Cape May is always a privilege,” said Capt. Owen Gibbons, commanding officer of Coast Guard Training Center Cape May. “This is an opportunity for us to bring representatives of our elected officials to Cape May, show them the birthplace of our enlisted corps and educate them on our service’s front-line missions in order to garner support for the entire service. The fact that we were chosen to host Missions Day aboard the training center just goes to show that our mission here to develop smartly disciplined, physically fit, basically trained men and women ready to meet the demands of an ever-changing Coast Guard is a truly important mission.

Beyond learning about recruit training, the visitors were treated to tours of the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Synder, Coast Guard Cutter Ida Lewis, static displays from LANTAREA Maritime Intelligence Fusion Center, Maritime Security and Response Team, Coast Guard Cape May Aids-to-Navigation and the Coast Guard’s Document and Media Exploitation Program. Additionally they had lunch with recruits, viewed K9 demonstrations, took a boat ride with boats from Coast Guard Station Cape May and viewed a search-and-rescue demonstration from a helicopter crew out of Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City.

The ultimate purpose for hosting Missions Day is to give the Coast Guard an opportunity to educate.

“Having congressional representatives exposed to Coast Guard personnel and assets serves as a way to not only share with them our roles and responsibilities as an organization, but also what challenges our organization faces,” said Lt. Joseph Sullivan-Springhetti, a member of the Coast Guard’s congressional affairs staff. “Allowing them to associate the information they’ve heard or read about, with the real men, women and assets that make the Coast Guard function, helps those who draft legislation to make better informed decisions.”